In today's world, every country is trying to improve the nation's health and well being by encouraging sporting activities. With the 2008 Olympics coming to Beijing, the whole of China is embracing the idea of “Faster, Higher, Stronger.” Ball games, such as soccer and basketball, are among the more popular sports. In ball games, e.g., soccer, the most important training is the skills to control the ball, pass the ball and shoot it right. In order to gain these skills, one needs to repeat the same move again and again. The issue with repeating the practice is that every time a ball is kicked out, the person needs to retrieve it back before repeating the move being practiced. This becomes even more difficult when training long range shots and passes. Thus a lot of training time is wasted in retrieving the ball and this has a negative impact on the effectiveness of the training.
To resolve this issue, there are many practice tools on the market such as the “game ball training apparatus/carrier” of U.S. Pat. No. 5,083,797. This apparatus mainly includes a net, a handle, a length adjuster and the rope connecting the handle and the net. The net is used to receive and hold the ball. The user holds the handle retaining the cord to control the ball. Thus it is easier to retrieve the ball. The length adjuster has a main body and a movable locker to adjust the length of the cord between the handle and the net.
Another example is the “soccer ball spin training tether” of U.S. Pat. No. 6,168,539. This cord is used in the kicking practice of soccer. It includes a cord that connects the ball and the handle, consisting of elastic strips and non-elastic fine strips. It also has a net to hold the ball, consisting of several longitudinal strips. There is a hole at the place where all the strips meet, i.e., in the north and south poles of the net. The ends of the ropes have a protective covering of wax or plastic. After the cord passes through the hole, it forms a knot at the end of the rope. Thus it is connected to the ball through the hole inside the washer. Thus, the cord can spin freely.
However, those traditional practice balls still have shortcomings in the design and usage. These said shortcomings in usage include:                1. The cords can easily get intertwined. When a ball is kicked, the ball will get into a high speed spin under force. In the “game ball training apparatus/carrier” of U.S. Pat. No. 5,083,797, since the net is connected directly to the cord, when the ball is kicked and starts to spin, the net will start spinning with the ball, thus making the rope and the net intertwined. This will cause difficulties in practicing controlling the ball.        2. The net structure is not flexible. In the “game ball training apparatus/carrier” of U.S. Pat. No. 5,083,797, since the net is not elastic, it is very inconvenient to put the ball into the net. The user has to open the net from top, put the ball inside, and then fasten the top. It is very inconvenient in operating. In the “soccer ball spin training tether” of U.S. Pat. No. 6,168,539, the net structure that is used to hold the ball is comprised of several longitudinal strips. These strips are not elastic either. They can not themselves change the length based on the size of the ball. Thus it is not flexible.        3. The spinning device cannot last long. In the “soccer ball spin training tether” of U.S. Pat. No. 6,168,539, a structure connects the cord to the ball and reportedly makes sure the rope does not intertwine when the ball spins. It uses a rope, whose one end is covered with wax or plastic to protect it and runs through a hollow rivet and washer to tie a knot. Thus, the ball's spinning will not cause the cord to intertwine. However, the wax protection layer is in constant contact with the washer. While the ball keeps spinning, under the pulling force and the spinning motion, the friction between wax protection layer and the washer will wear out the wax, and finally makes the cord fail, impairing the rotation & weakening the structure and eventually causing the ball to possibly fall.        